Red Oak, Was Hoping for Some Good Boards

rarefish383 · Mar 8, 2014

My neighbor had a good size dead Red Oak he wanted to take down for firewood. I was going to keep the log from the first limb down. Folks talk about placing notches and using wedges to guide the tree. I always put a tag line in the tree. Leverage trumps wedges every time. I was using my MS290 with 18 inch bar. The hill down to the tree still had snow on it and at 50 degrees every thing was turning into a slippery mess, so I didn't want to carry the XL923 with the 30 inch bar to the tree. I had to cut through from both sides so the notch was a hair off in the center of the face cut. Had the tag line up about 30 feet, running through a snatch block, up to the truck. Put a little tension on the line and made the back cut. Started hinging over perfect, then a dog leg limb hung up in a little Chestnut Oak on the right side. It looked like the Chestnut Oak would just bend over to the limb came free, but it didn't, stopped moving at about a 45 degree angle. Got in the truck and gave it a good steady pull and it worked just fine. The Chestnut Oak just bent over and the tree went down perfect. I got a couple pics of the standing tree. I'll get a pic of the log tomorrow. The top is split and stack at my neighbors house, Joe.

Sorry pics aren't very good, cell phone was all I had. First pic is dead top, one of the limbs spreading from the top hung up.

Tag line to help pull is 7/8, 17,000 pound test bull line.

Hard to see but at the base of the tree is the snatch block redirecting the pull line.

[

rarefish383 · Mar 8, 2014

Here's the face cut and hinge with tape measure on it. A little over 24 inch.

rarefish383 · Mar 8, 2014

Oh, forgot to mention, the punky ring under the bark gets worse as it goes up the tree. So, I don't know if I'll bother to take this log to my buddy to mill. I was going to have him mill me up some 5/4 boards for some board and batten. Might still give it a go, Joe.

mdavlee · Mar 8, 2014

Still make some nice boards. Nice job on the cuts.

VA-Sawyer · Mar 9, 2014

Red Oak just doesn't weather very well. About the best it will last outside around here is 5 or 6 years.

rarefish383 · Mar 9, 2014

This one was dead standing for about 5 years. I was waiting for as much of the top to fall out as possible because I knew I had a rather tight hole to put it in. Here's a pic of the log, Joe.

Mike Van · Mar 10, 2014

Dead 5 years, even though standing has had bugs moving into it for years. Much of it has lost it's strength. I'd make firewood out of it. I wouldn't even think of using oak for siding, too heavy, hard to nail, moves too much as the seasons change. White pine much better. Just my .02

rarefish383 · Mar 10, 2014

Funny you should mention White Pines. I have 2, 30" White Pines, to take down for my sister as soon as her yard dries out, Joe.

Dave Boyt · Mar 10, 2014

Looks like a nice, clean job of putting the tree on the ground. Even if it is just firewood, it was worth putting on the ground, but I sure wouldn't hesitate to put it on my sawmill. I'm a wedge man, myself, but never on a tree with dead branches. Every time you hit the wedge, the entire tree shakes. Last time I tried it on a dead tree (years ago), a branch came straight down and impaled itself in the ground a few feet away.